I wonder how much of this is true (story about the war)

[Preon1]

This story was in this morning's Wall Street Journal.  It tells of a false arrest in An Numaniya, Iraq.  I realize that every story that comes out of Iraq is filtered through the media that carries it with a spin that supports their position, but still...  I like this.

Wall Street Journal
April 7, 2003
Pg. 1

In Iraqi City, A Warm Welcome For U.S. Cools Fast After Arrest

Arrest of Favorite Imam Ignites Iraqi Mob, Showing Delicate Balance of Local Sympathy

By Michael M. Phillips, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

AN NUMANIYAH, Iraq -- In an episode that lasted just two hours and 15 minutes, the U.S. nearly ruined a crucial opportunity to win over Iraq's Shiite Muslims. Steered by a tip from a Saddam Hussein loyalist, Marines raided the home of a popular Shiite cleric in this midsize city on the Tigris River. The action briefly ignited a mass demonstration and threats of suicide attacks.

The confrontation carries a sobering message for American troops now at the edge of Baghdad. Iraqi citizens greet them a bit more warmly each day. But potential disasters remain just one misunderstanding away. The thin line between welcome liberator and hated invader is easy to stumble across.

When the Marines arrived last Wednesday in this predominantly Shiite city of less than 100,000 residents, the Americans seemed to have stayed on the right side of the line. They were counting on Shiites -- the nation's majority, long-oppressed by Mr. Hussein's Sunni-dominated Baath Party -- to welcome them. The Iraqis did at first, and the coalition quickly took control of An Numaniya. Young men and boys flocked to the troops, selling as souvenirs money bearing Mr. Hussein's portrait. Locals reported where the army had hidden weapons and where to find the few Baath Party officials who hadn't fled.

The U.S.-led coalition's handling of Shiites has been complicated. On Thursday, in the city of Najaf west of Numaniya, U.S. soldiers seeking to talk with a Shiite cleric were forced to retreat when confronted by an angry mob whose members had been told, falsely, that the invaders were coming to arrest the religious leader.

The seeds of a similar confrontation were planted in Numaniya when Marines Thursday night raided four houses, capturing 14 Baath leaders. One detainee told the troops where they could find Said Habib, a 60-year-old Shiite imam known for television appearances backing the regime and for his friendship with one of Mr. Hussein's sons. Mr. Habib, the informant said, was protected by 40 armed guards.

The next day, just before 9 a.m., troops from Lima Company, of the Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, surrounded Mr. Habib's compound. An Army psychological-operations Humvee, a large rotating speaker system on top, blared warnings: Residents had five minutes to surrender. Then four. Three. Two. One.

At zero, a tracked amphibious-assault vehicle, the words "Monster Inc." painted on the turret, plowed through the compound's brick wall. Marines burst through the hole into a lush garden. They broke into the house through the kitchen, where someone had been preparing bread and eggs on a floor mat. A soiled Teddy bear sat in a small purple chair. A phone rang unanswered.

Two women in black robes knelt at gunpoint. The black-covered lump next to them turned out to be a small girl. She sobbed, "Mama."

About 20 Iraqi men left through a rear door -- into the waiting arms of Marines. The troops picked 11, including a white-bearded imam in a black turban and brown robes. "Are you Said Habib?" asked Sgt. Tim Stiffey, an Army psy-ops specialist working with the Marines. "I am Said Habib," the man answered.

The Marines loaded the prisoners into their vehicles. Less than 10 minutes after the garden wall was breached, the convoy was rumbling back to the U.S. staging point at the city's dilapidated soccer stadium. The troops screamed "Shut up!" in English or phrase-book Arabic at any prisoner who spoke.

At the field, the Marines lined up the prisoners by the goalpost, binding each man's wrists behind his back and sticking green duct tape across his mouth.

The Americans were exultant. They felt they had found some of the bad guys who had largely eluded them. Then they heard that a crowd of Iraqis was forming at the main gate. First Lt. Paul Gillikin, Lima Company's executive officer, headed across the field to take control.

Outside the gate, dozens of men and boys sat yelling and gesticulating angrily. One held a photo of Mr. Habib, which many followers keep in their homes. Another, Eskander Mohammed Abbas, a graduate student, spoke in English through the flimsy metal gate. "All of us are against Saddam Hussein." If Mr. Habib spoke in favor of the regime, Mr. Abbas added, it was because refusal invited execution. He begged to see the imam so he could reassure the crowd that he was unharmed.

"When the crowd goes home, I'll let you in alone to see him," 25-year-old Lt. Gillikin told Mr. Abbas. The crowd swelled into the hundreds. People flowed in from side streets. More photos appeared, some taken when Mr. Habib was a young man.

The crowd of Marines grew, too. Troops spread out along the stadium entrance, perched in trees and atop armored vehicles. When something caught their eye -- a man with his hands in his pockets, a duffel bag -- they aimed their guns into the crowd.

At least one of the Marines had been in Somalia, and some began to murmur among themselves about the bloody 1993 street fighting in Mogadishu, when the city turned on American troops. The protesters began to chant, "Allah pray for the prophet Mohammed and his family."

A new crowd spokesman emerged, a young man who gave only the name Hayder, in tight blue jeans and a T-shirt. The Marines allowed him to pass through the gate and searched him for weapons.

"This city was so safe and sound for the last few days," Hayder said in lightly accented English. "People thought you'd come and change the ways of the old regime. Now you're doing the same things." There was talk in the crowd, Hayder warned, of people "sacrificing themselves" to free Mr. Habib.

A Marine intelligence team arrived with its civilian translator, Nasir Albardi, a 23-year-old Iraqi-American cook from Dearborn, Mich. Mr. Albardi's family left Iraq after the Gulf War. Coincidentally, he is a Shiite follower of Mr. Habib, so he knew of the imam's stature.

The intelligence team, who asked that their names not be published, had the Marines pull the tape off the imam's wrists and mouth. They offered water. He refused indignantly. They suspected the arrest had been a mistake -- at least politically. They needed Mr. Habib's help to make peace with the populace. The situation could soon get violent, one intelligence Marine told the imam. Would he speak to the crowd to calm things down?

"Are you going to let me go?" Mr. Habib responded through Mr. Albardi. The chant from the crowd was crescendoing, and he turned his head sharply to look. The intelligence team told Mr. Habib one of his neighbors -- a Baath Party member -- had said he was a regime supporter. The imam pulled from his robe a plastic wrap containing a bundle of frayed gray pages. "I swear on the Koran this is wrong," he said, kissing the book, touching it to his forehead and kissing it again.

Word came via radio that Capt. George Schreffler, the Lima Company commander, wanted the imam released. The intel team tried to make the best of a bad situation. "We believe the Baath Party is trying to turn us against you, and turn your people against us," one told Mr. Habib.

The Marines escorted Mr. Habib to the gate. He refused to leave until all his men were released, tape marks still on their faces. Mr. Habib took the microphone from the psy-ops Humvee. He thanked the crowd and asked them to calm down. "These people are here to get rid of Saddam Hussein," he said, to the Marines' relief. "They made a mistake, and I have not been harmed."

The crowd surged toward the gate, which the Marines opened just enough to let out the imam and the other prisoners.

At 11:15 a.m., Mr. Habib's followers lifted him to their shoulders and paraded him down the street. One man briefly stayed behind, taking an Iraqi bill out of his pocket and spitting on Saddam Hussein's portrait. He ripped the currency, crumpled the remains and threw them between the bars to the feet of the Marines.

[Ripsnort]

Steered by a tip from a Saddam Hussein loyalist, Marines raided the home of a popular Shiite cleric in this midsize city on the Tigris River. The action briefly ignited a mass demonstration and threats of suicide attacks.



Hopefully they are doing a few "Lessons Learned" like know who your informants are working for.

[funkedup]

Thank God for the Iraqi immigrants who have come to our country and are now helping the effort.

[john9001]

>>>>Marines burst through the hole into a lush garden. They broke into the house through the kitchen, where someone had been preparing bread and eggs on a floor mat. A soiled Teddy bear sat in a small purple chair. A phone rang unanswered.

Two women in black robes knelt at gunpoint. The black-covered lump next to them turned out to be a small girl. She sobbed, "Mama." <<<<<


oh wow man , thats like , ya'know a scene from a movie, that part about the small girl sobbing "mama" was really great, is spielburg gonna direct it ??

[Preon1]

is spielburg gonna direct it ??

Maybe James Cameron will revisit his old action directing of old